Anne

You write:

"One other thing: in an earlier email you said that the town had to retract 
their assessment or else there was “no way forward”.  I disagree.  
That kind of thinking is a diversion from the goal here, 
which is to get the plumbing in shape and approved….then to move on.  
It should be perfectly satisfactory if the court overrides the town, 
and while it would be lovely if they retracted, that is not going to happen, 
so get over it!  Keep your eye (and words and thoughts) on the goal 
of getting the current plumbing approved with a minimum of upgrades."

This in reference to Mr. Pucci's demand that I hire a plumber to make
the necessary changes. What necessary changes? The plumber is obligated to 
make the changes demanded by the Board - rip it all out - or by the Nantucket
inspector - 90% has to go - even if the plumber were a reincarnation  of
honest Christopher Gordon and felt only 1% needed to be changed. All
avenues of appeal are cut off. Mr. Plumber will lose his license if he
is loyal to me and displeases his inspector. "The goal of getting the 
current plumbing approved with a minimum of upgrades" is a pious dream.

I read the Megan Bayer's brief. Thank you for making me do it. Should
have done so four months ago and written a reply brief, - but I was
busy writing sonnets, seventy five concerning my memories of my recently
deceased wife, and eighty-six sonnets on other subjects, all of this
probably more valuable than another brief in a case which I have lost
even if I win and which I win even if I lose. Dialectic will do wonders
for you.

As for the contents of the appellee's brief, I think the assault for
failing to compromise is a request for concession and thus an index
of weakness. It's awkward to try to besmirch the character of a lawyer
for being determined. I was startled, taken aback and a bit intimidated
by Ms. Bayer's boldness in promulgating fiction and trying to confuse
the Court by citing the Board's belated post-hearing concoctions as
satisfying the requirement of specific violations stated in the Inspection
Report and demonstrable on photos. Wish I had said this in a reply brief:
I will argue that the Town's demonstrable obfuscations of what was and what
was not said at the Hearing, obfuscations which can be immediately deduced
from comparing the brief with the transcript, corroborate my claim that the 
Town's Inspection Report is similarly fictitious.

I conclude that if it likes me, the Court has a grab bag of reasons to rule
for me, not least the doctored recording, and if it doesn't like me, the
Superior Court has a trove of fatuous legal arguments in store to support
dismissal of my appeal. These legal proceedings have spawned two novels
in German, - one "Die Insel" published but totally ignored - not a single
copy sold, and one as yet unnamed, ready for pre-publication editing. If
you read German and are bored there's entertainment available.

Ernst